Jayson Tatum had a game high 32 points, including a three-pointer late in the fourth quarter on Tuesday night that proved to be enough as the Boston Celtics won their fourth consecutive game with a 116-115 victory over the Portland Trailblazers at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon.
Portland (31-23) had their biggest lead of the night of nine in the first quarter at 23-14, and led 38-30 after the opening 12 minutes. Kemba Walker gave Boston their first lead since very early on with a driving layup with 4:14 to go in the first half, but the Blazers still took a 60-57 lead to the intermission. In a tightly contested third quarter, the Celtics would outscore the hosts 35-27 and take a five point advantage headed to the fourth quarter. Boston would take their biggest lead on a Tatum jumper with just over nine minutes to play at 99-91. Portland though stayed within striking distance, and CJ McCollum gave them their final lead of one point with a three-pointer from the corner with 1:01 left to play. Tatum regained the lead 113-112 for the C’s with two free throws 21 seconds later, and then after a Damian Lillard miss, Tatum nailed the clutch three-pointer as the shot clock was running down with 8.5 seconds remaining for the four point advantage. After a Portland timeout, Norman Powell also nailed one from long distance to slice the margin to a single point again. They would foul Marcus Smart who would miss both foul shots with 3.5 seconds showing on the clock, but a desperation heave from three quarters court at the buzzer by Lillard wouldn’t go as Boston held on.
All five Celtics starters scored in double figures in the win, led by the 32 from Tatum, who added nine rebounds and five assists. Jaylen Brown had 24 points, while Walker had 21 to go along with eight rebounds and seven assists. Robert Williams III added 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists and Smart also chipped in 13 points and seven assists. Lillard led Portland in the loss with 28 points and 10 assists, while Carmelo Anthony had 25 points off the bench in 28 minutes. The Celtics are now three games over .500 at 29-26 and will visit the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night. Los Angeles has been without Anthony Davis since February 14 and Lebron James since March 20 with injuries.
